As you all know, we are moving in August to a new place that is right by Thomas' nursery but a bit further from town than our current home. The boxes have arrived but now I have only packed part of the kitchen. The problem with packing ahead of time is that you have to find room for the boxes full of stuff that you have retrieved from cupboards/bookshelves/dressers, since you can't just put the boxes back into the cupboard/bookshelf/dresser! So having packed 3 boxes of kitchen stuff, I decided that packing will have to wait until the week we actually move.
I have been taking Thomas to the pool at the nearby hotel to swim. it is much better and nicer than the paddling pool (i.e., no bits of broken glass, PLUS it's an indoors heated pool, with a sauna, steam room, and jacuzzi all of which which I can't use because Thomas is not allowed) and Thomas loves it there! He swims with these bright yellow swimmies on his arms and looks hilarious, and sometimes he asks to have them taken off so he can dunk his head into the water properly. Sometimes he wants his goggles too. He also enjoys taking a shower with me in the stalls and playing with the shampoo dispenser. Unfortunately we have no pictures to show. But we are big fans of the indoor heated pool at the hotel. It is usually quiet when we go (mid afternoon on a week-day) with just one kid and another parent.
The other thing that we have enjoyed doing is going to the library. Thomas usually doesn't care for the books while we are there, because he is much more interested in the train that holds the books. (Note: in the time since this photo was taken, he has grown a fair bit and now his feet can touch the bottom of the train properly). However, we are usually able to find one or two winners from the hundreds of books there. His current favourites are The Tiger Who Came To Tea. and Mr Magnolia.
We were invited to a church party at the church where Thomas' weekly playgroup is held. They hired this big Thomas the Tank Engine train that goes around the track, and Thomas was in seventh heaven:
Now that he is a confident walker, he refuses to stay in his stroller for long. When we were at Sainsbury's the other day, Thomas decided that he would help me do the shopping and he added four bottles of apple and orange juice (from concentrate) to our shopping basket. It was buy one get one free, but in the end I decided we didn't need the juice after all.
Thomas has also really started to enjoy playing with his little friend Zoe, who is 3 years old. Sometimes he freaks out when she tries to pick him up (he weighs about as much as she does) but most of the time we are able to get them to hang out amicably. Here we were on our way to lunch at (gasp) McDonald's.
And can we talk about verbal explosion! Thomas started really talking and comprehending. These days he speaks a mix of English and Chinese (mostly English) and is quick to repeat (with some degree of accuracy) new words. The other day I told him that spending time with him makes me happy. He smiled back and said "booboo" (our nickname for him), so I said, "booboo happy?" and he said, "yeah." This morning, he was carrying around his teddy bear and giving it big hugs and he said to me, "booboo happy." I'm amazed he understood it so quickly! He is so much fun to be with these days, except when he screeches and pinches when gets mad, or when he gets possessive and whiny and starts to cry and shouts "MINE!!" when other kids (his friends) approach him and the toys he is playing with.* Nothing like small children to show you Lutheran theology in action.
*that aren't even his toys, but toys that his friends loaned him.
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